Motorized Electric Shades and Electric Window Blinds Utilizing Multi-Path Wireless Communication

ABSTRACT

System, device, and method of multi-path wireless communication. A method includes: constructing in an electronic device of a user, a control message indicating a user command intended to be performed by a Home Automation Device (HAD) of the user; wherein the constructing includes inserting into the control message a unique Message-Identifier. The method then transmits the control message, from the electronic device of the user to the HAD, concurrently via at least two different wireless communications channels which include at least: (i) a first wireless communication channel that includes passage of traffic through the Internet, and (ii) a second wireless communication channel in which no traffic passes through the Internet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a Continuation of U.S. 17/679,167, filed onFeb. 24, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety; which is a Continuation of U.S. 17/083,665, filed on Oct. 29,2020, now patent number U.S. 11,290,297 (issued on Mar. 29, 2022), whichis hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; which is aContinuation of U.S. 16/868,574, filed on May 7, 2020, now patent numberU.S. 10,848,336 (issued on Nov. 24, 2020), which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety; which is a Continuation of U.S.16/214,079, filed on Dec. 9, 2018, now patent number U.S. 10,673,646(issued on Jun. 2, 2020), which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety.

FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communication systems.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices and computing devices are utilized on a daily basisby millions of users worldwide. For example, laptop computers, desktopcomputers, smartphone, tablets, and other electronic devices areutilized for browsing the Internet, consuming digital content, streamingaudio and video, sending and receiving electronic mail (email) messages,Instant Messaging (IM), video conferences, playing games, or the like.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the present invention may provide systems, devices,and methods of multiple-path (multi-path) wireless communication; andparticularly, de-duplication or non-duplication of multipath requests,providing reduction or minimization or latency, as well as automaticfailover mechanism utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) protocols.

The present invention may provide other and/or additional advantagesand/or benefits.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system, in accordance with somedemonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME DEMONSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention enables efficient control of home automationdevices and systems, as well as efficient and improved control ofvarious devices and appliances that are controlled via such homeautomation devices, and/or that are controlled (e.g., directly, orindirectly) via an end-user device such as a smartphone or a tablet. Forexample, a user utilizes an end-user device or an electronic device,such as a smartphone or tablet or smart-watch or a touch-screenelectronic device (referred to herein as “the Controlling Device”), inorder to provide user input (e.g., by clicking or tapping or selectingon-screen GUI elements). The Controlling Device communicates with a HomeAutomation Device (HAD), such as Amazon Echo or Google Home or otherhome automation hub, or a particular or dedicated or specific-purpose orgeneral-purpose or multiple-purpose or proprietary HAD unit that is ableto control a particular appliance or a particular set of group ofappliances based on user-commands that are entered and transmitted tothe HAD from the Controlling Device. The Controlling Device conveys tothe HAD the user’s input or commands, typically via a wireless ornon-wired communication channel. The HAD receives the user’s input,typically wirelessly from the Controlling Device; and the HAD may actlocally and/or directly based on the user’s input (e.g., may provide ananswer to a question that the user asked; or may provided immediatefeedback that the user’s command cannot be performed), and/or may sendone or more signals to another device (“the Controlled Appliance”),instructing the Controlled Appliance to perform one or more particularoperations based on the user’s command and/or to modify an operationalproperty of the Controlled Appliance.

For example, the Controlled Appliance may be a smart ceiling fan; theControlling Device may be a smartphone; and the user’s command mayindicate “change the speed of the ceiling fan from current Speed 2 tonew Speed 3”; the Controlling Device transmits a message with saidcommand, wirelessly to the HAD, directly or indirectly (e.g., via aremote server; via the Internet; via a home Wi-Fi router); and the HADsends a suitable command to the Controlled Appliance (e.g., wirelessly,via a Radio Frequency (RF) transmission, via an Infra-Red (IR)transmission, or the like). Similarly, the Controlled Appliance may be alighting fixture (e.g., a smart ceiling lamp); the Controlling Devicemay be a tablet; and the user’s command may indicate “dim the light byhalf”. The Controlled Appliance may be of other suitable type, forexample, a garage door, a kitchen appliance, or the like; and may beother type of electronic device, including electronic devices that arenot necessarily classified as appliances. For example, the ControlledAppliance may be, in some implementations: an Air Conditioner or an airconditioning unit or an air conditioning system, a desktop fan, a mobilefan, a “Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning” (HVAC) unit orsystem, an indoor appliance, an outdoor appliance, a yard or back-yardappliance, Motorized Window Shades or Motorized Window Blinds (e.g., asystem or unit that allows a user to command an electric motor to openand/or close and/or change an opening position or slanting or angle, ofshades or blinds of a window or of a wall; such system or unit beingpowered by Alternate Current, and/or by Direct Current and/or byreplaceable batteries or rechargeable batteries); a fireplace unit orsystem (e.g., an electric fireplace and/or gas-based fireplace,particularly such fireplace that the user may command to commenceheating and/or end heating and/or change a heating level; and whichutilizes electricity and/or gas and/or propane and/or other substancesto generate heat); a doorbell, or a doorbell system that is optionallyequipped with (or connected to) a camera or imager to capture images orvideo of a visitor; a smoke detector or a fire detector or a CarbonMonoxide detector; a humidifier device or unit or system; an airpurifier or an air purification unit or system; a security camera;and/or other suitable appliances or devices, which may be controlled viathe HAD by the end-user who utilizes his Controlling Device for thispurpose.

For demonstrative purposes, the discussion above and/or herein mayrelate to the HAD and the Controlled Appliance as two separate devices;however, in some implementations, the HAD, or at least somefunctionalities or units or modules of the HAD, may be implementedintegrally within the Controlled Appliance, or may be built-in in theControlled Appliance; or in some embodiments, the HAD and the ControlledAppliance may be implemented as a single unified device, or as sharing asingle unified housing or encapsulation or physical container, orotherwise being co-located, or otherwise being connected via physicaland/or mechanical and/or electrical connectors or wires.

The system may utilize one or more communication protocols, for example,HTTP, HTTPS, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), ConstrainedApplication Protocol (CoAP), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE),Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi or IEEE 802.11, Cellular communication (e.g.,supporting 2G or 3G or 4G or 4G-LTE or 5G communication), and/or variousother protocols which may be proprietary protocols or non-proprietaryprotocols; and which, in some embodiments, may be utilized by the systemin a concurrent or simultaneous manner. Such communication protocols maybe utilized to enable direct and/or indirect communication between theControlling Device and the HAD; and/or in order to enable direct and/orindirect communication between the HAD and the Controlled Appliance.

For example, the interaction is initiated by a user, by pressing ortapping or otherwise selecting an on-screen button or GUI element thatis displayed to the user via a touch-screen of his Controlling Device,via a dedicated or native application or “app”, or via a web-browser ora web-site or web-page that runs a mobile application or a web-friendlyor mobile-friendly interface for controlling the Controlled Appliance.The user’s command, or a message representing the user command and/ortranslating it or converting it into particular operations that theControlled Appliance is commanded to perform, is then delivered to theHAD, either directly over a local wireless link (e.g., the ControllingDevice and the HAD communicate directly or indirectly via a residentialW-LAN or via a local Wi-Fi router), and/or indirectly via a remoteserver located remotely (e.g., a cloud-based server, optionally operatedor controlled by a manufacturer or vendor of the HAD).

In some embodiments, the user may provide a command that the ControllingDevice transfers to the HAD, which in turn transfers further to theControlled Appliance. In other embodiments, the user’s command mayactually be a query or a question, which the HAD may be able to answerby itself and/or without necessarily querying the Controlled Appliance,or which the HAD may be able to answer by checking a remote resource ora remote server (and without necessarily checking with the ControlledAppliance itself), or which the HAD may be able to answer only after theHAD checks with the Controlled Appliance in order to provide thesuitable answer to the user. Such question from the Controlling Deviceto the HAD may be, for example, “what is the current speed of theceiling fan?”, which the HAD may check with the ceiling fan itself priorto responding, or which the HAD may check via a remote server thatstores an indication of the current speed of the ceiling fan, or whichthe HAD may already know since the HAD may locally or internally keeptrack of previous commands to change the speed of that ceiling fan.Similarly, the user’s question via the Controlling Device to the HAD maybe, for example, “how many speed levels does my ceiling fan have?”, andthe HAD may respond to this question based on pre-defined data that theHAD already obtained in the past with regard to the controlled ceilingfan, and/or by obtaining such data from a remote server and/or from theceiling fan itself. In other words, the user’s “command”, as utilizedherein, may optionally include user input that does not necessarilycommand to modify an operational property of the Controlled Device; butrather, may include a query or a status query or any other type ofquestion (e.g., even “what is today’s date?”) that the HAD may be ableto answer, either by itself and/or by consulting with another device orwith a remote entity.

The Applicants have realized that some users may wish to control theControlled Appliance even when the user (and his Controlling Device) arenot in the same venue or location or residence as the ControlledAppliance. For example, a user that drives back from his work to hishome, may wish to utilize her smartphone while she is still ten milesaway from her home, in order to remotely activate the ceiling fan or theair conditioning unit in her home, or to otherwise command suchControlled Appliances to modify their operational properties.

The Applicants have also realized that due to various reasons, such as,the prevalence of Network Address Translation (NAT), as well asFirewalls, it is not practical and/or not feasible to have theControlling Device directly communicate with the HAD when theControlling Device is located away from the venue in which the HAD islocated, or when the Controlling Device and the HAD are not within Wi-Fireach of each other (e.g., within 20 or 50 meters of each other).Therefore, realized the Applicants, the Controlling Device may need tocommunicate with the HAD via a remote server or via a cloud-basedsystem, without relying on a direct or local Wi-Fi connection betweenthe Controlling Device and the HAD; in order to enable the user tocontrol the HAD remotely via the Controlling Device while the user andhis Controlling Device are located away from the immediate vicinity ofthe HAD.

The system of the present invention may utilize the MQTT communicationprotocol for such communications between the Controlling Device and theHAD. For example, the Controlling Device implements an MQTT client, andtransmits MQTT messages to an MQTT server or an MQTT broker entity(e.g., cloud-based); which then relays or transmits or forwards thoseMQTT messages to an MQTT client in the HAD. Similarly, responses fromthe HAD to the Controlling Device, may travel via MQTT communications inthe opposite direction.

The Applicants have also realized that users further wish that the HADwould be rapidly controllable and responsive when the user is located athome, in the immediate vicinity of the HAD (e.g., in the same room; inthe same residential house; in the Wi-Fi range of the HAD). TheApplicants have realized that users further desire a low-latency controlof the HAD, with little or virtually no lag or delay, and with low orminimal response time between (i) pressing an on-screen button by theuser on the Controlling Device, and (ii) the HAD responding to theuser’s input and/or the HAD causing the Controlled Appliance to operatebased on the user’s input, and also (ii) the touch-screen of theControlling Device displaying a status update to indicate that theuser’s input was indeed received and processed or to indicate theupdated operational state of the Controlled Appliance.

The Applicants have further realized that users may wish to have suchlow-latency or lag-free or delay-free control of the HAD and/or of theControlled Appliance, even if the home Internet connection isexperiencing high latency and/or even a complete outage. Therefore, thesystem of the present invention may include a HAD that is capable ofusing a protocol for local and/or direct wireless communication betweenthe Controlling Device and the HAD, in a manner that is independent from(and does not rely on) the existence or the quality of an Internetconnection between the user’s home and a remote server or othercloud-based entity. For example, the Controlling Device and the HAD maycommunicate locally and/or directly over a direct Wi-Fi communicationlink between them, or locally yet indirectly via a local Wi-Fi networkthat is spanned and managed by a local Wi-Fi router (which may continueto operate even if that Wi-Fi router is temporarily not able to accessthe public Internet); for example, via HTTP, or HTTP with TLS, or HTTPS;and/or via BLE communication which does not rely even on the venue’sWi-Fi infrastructure or network but rather utilizes the physicalproximity of the Controlling Device and the HAD for transmitting,propagating and receiving the BLE radio signals directly between them.

For demonstrative purposes, some portions of the discussion herein mayrelate to MQTT protocol or messages or signals; however, this is only anon-limiting example, and any reference herein to “MQTT” may beconstrued as similarly including any other cloud-based or server-basedcommunication mechanism or protocol or messages or signals, in which afirst client transmits over the Internet a message to a remote (orcloud-based) server, which then relays or forwards or transmits over theInternet that message to a second client.

For demonstrative purposes, some portions of the discussion herein mayrelate to HTTP communication or messages; however, this is only anon-limiting example, and any reference herein to “HTTP” may beconstrued as similarly including any other communication protocol ormechanism which uses a customer’s able to utilize, for example, avenue’s Wi-Fi network or infrastructure to enable direct communicationbetween the Controlling Device and the HAD; for example, HTTP, or HTTPS,or HTTP with TLS, or CoAP, or a proprietary datagram protocol orstreaming protocol.

For demonstrative purposes, some portions of the discussion herein mayrelate to BLE communication or messages; however, this is only anon-limiting example, and any reference herein to “BLE” may be construedas similarly including any other communication protocol which does notrely on, or which does not utilize, or which is independent of, theexistence and/or the characteristics of any Wi-Fi infrastructure of thevenue in which the HAD is located; and which enables direct localcommunication between the Controlling Device and the HAD without theneed for an Internet connection by any of them, and/or without the needfor the venue of the HAD or the venue of the Controlling Device to havean Internet connection or to have an operational Wi-Fi network that canaccess the public Internet; and may include, for example, Bluetooth,BLE, BLE Mesh, Wi-Fi Direct, Zigbee, Z-Wave, or other or proprietarypoint-to-point communication links and/or mesh networks.

The system of the present invention may thus enable a Controlling Deviceto efficiently and rapidly control the HAD (and through it, theControlled Appliance) under a variety of scenarios and use-cases; byutilizing multiple communication protocols, such as MQTT and HTTP andBLE.

The Applicants have realized that a particular mechanism may be requiredin order to manage the parallel utilization of such multiplecommunication protocols, in order to avoid duplication of the samecommand being transported over multiple different paths and thusresulting in non-desired operations or duplicated operations. Forexample, if the Controlling Device transmits the same command of “togglethe status of the light of the ceiling lamp” over two paths, then theHAD may receive the same command twice, and may instruct the ControlledAppliance twice, thereby turning-on and then turning-off the ceilinglamp and thus not affecting the user-desired change. Similarly, if theControlling Device transmits the same command of “increase the speed ofthe ceiling fan to the next available speed-level” over two paths, thenthe HAD may receive the same command twice, and may instruct theControlled Appliance twice, thereby causing the Controlled Appliance toactually increase its speed by two speed-levels rather than by onespeed-level as originally requested by the user.

The Applicants have realized that the above-described problem may bepartially mitigated by providing to the user an option in theControlling Device to select which communication path would be used fortransmitting the user’s command to the HAD. However, such mechanism isnot user-friendly, as many users are not familiar with the technicaldetails involved, and/or may not perform the correct choice under thecircumstances (e.g., a user may select to use BLE for transmitting thecommand, while the user and his Controlling Device are located threemiles away from the HAD), or the user may not perform the optimal choiceunder the circumstances (e.g., the user selects to utilize MQTT whilethe user and his Controlling Device are located five feet away from theHAD; the MQTT messaging would work, but may introduce unnecessarylatency or delay).

The Applicants have realized that another partial solution may utilize aRound Robin Failover mechanism: for example, the Controlling Deviceinitially attempts to communicate with the HAD via the highest-priorityprotocol (e.g., via HTTP); if the HAD (and/or the Controlled Appliance)did not respond or did not operate based on the user’s command within apre-defined time period (e.g., within N seconds, such as within 2seconds), then the Controlling Device attempts to utilize the nextprotocol in a pre-defined ordered list for transmitting subsequentmessages to the HAD. This approach frees the user from having to selecta choice of protocol; yet this approach suffers from multiple drawbacks.First, a message from the Controlling Device to the HAD may be lost,particularly if the currently-used communication protocol fails; theuser is frustrated due to the failure, and may need to repeat the manualentry of the command (e.g., tapping the on-screen button again andagain). Second, even if the method does work, it may lead to sub-optimalor increased latency; for example, failing over to delayed MQTTmessaging while the user and her Controlling Device are located at homein proximity to the HAD.

The Applicants have realized that another partial solution may utilize aRound Robin Failover mechanism with Re-transmission: for example, thepreviously-described mechanism is used, yet a message that failed to bedelivered to the HAD is re-transmitted by the Controlling Device to theHAD using the next-available protocol after a pre-defined timeoutelapses. This approach may mitigate the “lost message” problem, but mayintroduce new or other drawbacks. For example, in some scenarios, theinitial message may have been successfully received at the HAD and/or atthe Controlled Appliance, but only the reply (from the ControlledAppliance and/or from the HAD) failed to be delivered back; and in suchcase, the re-transmission of the command would cause the ControlledAppliance to perform the command twice, which is not the original intentof the user. Additionally or alternatively, the latency may increase or“spike” when switching to the next-available protocol, because theControlling Device waits until the timeout elapses beforere-transmitting; the Timeout period is typically on the order ofmagnitude of several seconds (e.g., 3 seconds), whereas users expect alatency on the order of magnitude of milliseconds (e.g., 100milliseconds).

The Applicants have also realized that another partial solution mayutilize a mechanism of monitoring and priority failover. For example, abackground software service in the Controlling Device continuouslymonitors the performance and/or characteristics of each availablecommunication protocol, by sending keep-alive messages (or “ping”messages) and measuring the round-trip latency for each protocol. Then,when it is time to send a real message based on actual user input, theControlling Device select to utilize the communication protocol havingthe lowest latency in the most-recent test attempt or test attempts.Alternatively, the communication protocol with the lowest cost score(e.g., a weighted combination of latency and other cost components, suchas bandwidth cost) may be used for protocol selection. However, theApplicants have realized that this approach may introduce drawbacks orproblems; for example: (a) the implementation may be relatively complexand/or error-prone; (b) the mechanism requires unnecessary traffic forthe keep-alive messages, with the associated bandwidth costs, and withother costs involved, such as, draining a battery of the ControllingDevice; (c) even with this mechanism, it is still possible that theselected communication protocol will be sub-optimal or would even failto deliver the message to the HAD, due to dynamic changes andfluctuations in quality or the characteristic of the relevantconnections and communication links (e.g., Internet, Wi-Fi, RadioFrequency or RF); (d) the mechanism may fail to make the optimal choiceof protocol in the presence of jitter (e.g., random changes in latency),or in scenarios of high packet loss, as past measurements of aparticular protocol may not be a reliable indicator of futureeffectiveness of that protocol.

The present invention may thus provide an improved mechanism toeliminate or reduce or prevent some or all of the above-mentionedproblems, and/or to achieve or to enable some or all of the followingtasks or goals: (a) be transparent to the user, and not require userselection or user intervention; (b) recover automatically from packetloss; (c) achieve the lowest possible latency; (d) avoid wastefulkeep-alive messages; (e) low complexity of implementation; (f) workswell in the presence of jitter; (g) ensure that a message is acted upononly once, and/or be robust to reception of a re-transmitted message.

Reference is made to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic illustration of asystem 100, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of thepresent invention. System 100 may comprise a Controlling Device 101,which a user may utilize in order to send messages or commands to a HAD102, which in turn may communicate (based on the user’s commands) with aControlled Appliance 103.

For demonstrative purposes, portions of the discussion herein may relateto sending a message (e.g., a control message) from the ControllingDevice 101 to the HAD 102; however, similar mechanisms or operations maybe utilized for sending a message (e.g., an Acknowledgment message, astatus message, or the like) from the HAD 102 to the Controlling Device101; and/or for sending messages from the HAD 102 to the ControlledAppliance 103 (which may be equipped, optionally, with one or more unitsthat may be similar to the components or modules or units of theControlling Device 101); and/or for sending messages from the ControlledAppliance 103 to the HAD 102; and/or for sending messages from theControlling Device 101 to the Controlled Appliance 103; and/or forsending messages from the Controlled Appliance 103 to the ControllingDevice.

The Controlling Device 101 may communicate with the HAD 102 through adirect Wi-Fi communication link established directly between them; orvia a direct Bluetooth / BLE communication link established directlybetween them; or via other direct wireless communication link or channelbetween them. The Controlling Device 101 may thus send HTTP or HTTPSmessages to the HAD 102 via such direct Wi-Fi channel; and the HAD 102may respond directly to the Controlling Device 101 via the same directWi-Fi channel between them.

Additionally or alternatively, the Controlling Device 101 maycommunicate with the HAD 102 through an indirect Wi-Fi communicationlink or through a Wireless LAN (W-LAN) that is operational in the venuein which the Controlling Device 101 and the HAD 102 are located; forexample, via a Wi-Fi wireless network that is constructed and managedvia a residential Wireless Router 105. It is noted that the WirelessRouter 105 may optionally also provide access to the public Internet, toone or more devices that are wirelessly connected to the Wireless Router105; such as, to the Controlling Device 101 and/or to the HAD 102;however, as detailed herein, such Internet access via the WirelessRouter 105 is not necessary and is not required in order to establishindirect Wi-Fi communications between the Controlling Device 101 and theHAD 102, which may communicate between them through the Wireless Router105 even if that Wireless Router 105 does not have Internet connection.

Additionally or alternatively, the Controlling Device 101 an the HAD 102may communicate between them indirectly by sending and receiving MQTTmessages, via a remote (e.g., cloud-based) MQTT Server 106. For example,the Controlling Device 101 may comprise or may implement an MQTT Module124, such as an MQTT client module; and similarly, the HAD 102 maycomprise or may implement an MQTT module 145. The Controlling Device 101may transmit an MQTT message to the remote MQTT Server 106, for example,by accessing it through a cellular transceiver 123 of the ControllingDevice 101, or by accessing it indirectly via a Wi-Fi transceiver 121 ofthe Controlling Device which in turn may access the Internet via theWireless Router 105; thereby enabling the Controlling Device 101 toexchange MQTT messages with the HAD 102 through the remote MQTT Server106. Similarly, HAD 102 may receive such incoming MQTT messages from theremote MQTT Server 106, for example, by accessing it through a cellulartransceiver of the HAD 102, or by accessing it indirectly via a Wi-Fitransceiver 141 of the HAD 102 which in turn may access the Internet viathe Wireless Router 105; thereby enabling the HAD 102 to exchange MQTTmessages with the Controlling Device 101 through the remote MQTT Server106.

The Controlling Device 101 comprises a Controlling Application 111,which provides to the user an on-screen display with GUI elements thatthe user can engage with. For example, The user may utilize thetouch-screen of the Controlling Device 101 (e.g., a smartphone), to tapor click on an on-screen button that reads “increase the speed of theCeiling Fan from the current speed to the next-available speed-level”;the Controlling Application 111 generates a first message and transmitsit (directly or indirectly) to the HAD 102; which in turn generates asecond message (which may be different in its format from the secondmessage) and sends it (directly or indirectly) to the ControlledAppliance 103 (e.g., the Ceiling Fan).

A high-level module or unit in the Controlling Device 101 and/or in theControlling Application 111 is implemented as an Interactor Module 112;it calls or invokes a Requestor Module 113 or a requestor function on anobject in the Controlling Application 111 that is referred to asCommunication Coordinator Module 114.

The Wye Module 114 in the Controlling Device 101 generates a random orpseudo-random number (e.g., 64-bit or 128-bit), referred to (andutilized) as a Message-ID. A Message Constructor Module 115 in theControlling Device 112 generates and constructs the actual message to betransmitted to the HAD 102. The generated message may comprise two (ormore) message-portions or message-segments, for example: the uniqueMessage-ID of this message, and the message payload (e.g., an indicationthat the Ceiling Fan is instructed to increase its speed by onespeed-level). In some embodiments, the Message-ID may be a random orpseudo-random string of characters; or a unique token or nonce; or aUniversally Unique Identifier (UUID) or a Globally Unique Identifier(GUID). In other embodiments, the Message-ID may include a fixed portion(e.g., a message-portion that uniquely identifies the particularRequestor Module 113 and/or the particular Controlling Application 111that is about to send this message, or the particular instance of thatControlling Application 111) and a non-fixed portion (e.g., a sequencenumber that is sequentially increased by 1 or by other pre-definedinterval, to uniquely identify the particular message among othermessages that were sent or that will be sent by this particular instanceof the Controlling Application 111).

The Controlling Device 101 may comprise multiple transceivers, ormultiple modules able to transmit and/or receive messages or packets byutilizing different communication protocols. In a demonstrativeembodiment, the Controlling Device 101 comprises a Wi-Fi transceiver121, a Bluetooth / BLE transceiver 122, and a Cellular transceiver 123.Furthermore, in a demonstrative embodiment, the Controlling Device 101may comprise multiple, different, transmission modules able to performor initiate the actual transmission of message by the differenttransceivers and in accordance with various communication protocols. Forexample, an HTTPS module 131 may be responsible for transmittingmessages to the HAD 102 over an HTTPS communication link (e.g.,indirectly, via a remote server which is accessed over the Internet,such as via the Wi-Fi Transceiver 121 and/or the Cellular Transceiver123); a Bluetooth / BLE module 132 may be responsible for transmittingmessages to the HAD 102 over a Bluetooth / BLE communication link viathe Bluetooth / BLE Transceiver 122; an MQTT module 133 may beresponsible for transmitting messages to the HAD 102 using the MQTTprotocol, indirectly via a remote MQTT server (e.g., which is accessedvia the Wi-Fi Transceiver 121 and/or the Cellular Transceiver 123).

Once the user of the Controlling Device initiates the user command, themessage is generated with its unique Message-ID portion; and theCommunication Coordinator Module 114 proceeds to immediately trigger allthe modules 131-133 to transmit that message (having the sameMessage-ID) over all available protocols or transports. Accordingly, forexample, the same message, having the same Message-ID component orportion, is sent to the HAD 102 via HTTPS and also via Bluetooth / BLEand also via MQTT; such transmissions may occur simultaneously orconcurrently, or at least partially concurrently, or in a consecutiveimmediate order (e.g., to reduce wireless interference among multipletransceivers operating at the same time).

For example, the same message is sent via all the three protocols to theHAD 102; which, in turn, may receive all of these messages, or only someof them, or only one of them, or none of them. The HAD 102 actsimmediately upon the receipt of the first message that was actuallyreceived at the HAD 102, out of the several messages that were sent bythe Controlling Device 101 with the same Message-ID.

For example, the HAD 102 is equipped with a Wi-Fi transceiver 141 and aBluetooth /BLE transceiver 142; and further comprises communicationmodules able to handle various communication protocols, e.g., an HTTPSmodule 143, a Bluetooth / BLE module 144, and an MQTT module 145. In anexample, the HAD 102 receives the first message via Bluetooth / BLE;uses its Message Parsing Module 146 to parse or process the message,extracting from it the command portion (e.g., command the ceiling fan toincrease its speed by one speed-level) and the Message-ID portion; andproceeds to immediately transmit to the relevant Controlled Appliance103 (e.g., the ceiling fan in this example) a new message that conveysthe user’s command, wherein the new message is, for example, constructedlocally within the HAD 102 via its Message Constructor Module 147.

Upon receiving the first message from the Controlling Device 101 (out ofseveral duplicate messages that the Controlling Device sent, having thesame Message-ID), the HAD 102 sends via its ACK Module 148 anacknowledgment (ACK) response to the Controlling Device 111 (e.g., viathe same communication channel through which that message was receivedat the HAD 102; or, in some embodiments, through all the communicationchannels that are available to the HAD 102 for communicating with theControlling Device 101). The ACK module 148 of the HAD 102 inserts orinjects or appends or otherwise includes in the ACK message a copy ofthe Message-ID portion of the message whose safe receipt at the HAD 102is being acknowledged. A Messages Tracking Cache Unit 149 in the HAD 102is updated by a Messages Tracker Unit 150 of the HAD 102; for example,the Messages Tracker Unit 150 adds a new entry or record into thedatabase or data-structure of the Messages Tracking Cache Unit 149, thenew entry or record being (for example) a copy of the entire messagethat was received (including its Message-ID), or being divided into theMessage-ID portion and the message-payload portion.

Subsequently, for example after two seconds, the HAD 102 receives againa message having the same Message-ID, but via another communicationchannel (e.g., via MQTT). The HAD 102 extracts from the received messageits Message-ID; and a Message Duplication Detector 151 of the HAD 102searches or checks in the Messages Tracking Cache Unit 149 whether amessage with the same Message-ID was already received at the HAD 102. Ifthe checking result is positive, then the HAD 102 does not act upon thisnew message since it is a duplicate of a previously-received andpreviously-acted-upon message; for example, the HAD 102 may discard theduplicate message, or may store it too in the Messages Tracking CacheUnit 149 (e.g., optionally with an indication that it is a duplicatemessages that was not acted upon again)., or may send back an ACKmessage to the Controlling Device 111 (e.g., via the same communicationchannel that transported the duplicate message to the HAD 102, and/orvia other available communication channels) in order to re-confirm tothe Controlling Application 111 that this message (identified via itsMessage-ID) was indeed received at the HAD 102. The ACK message may befreshly generated for the duplicate message; or may even be a duplicateACK message identical to a previous ACK message that was previouslygenerated for the previous message having the same Message-ID (e.g.,stored by the ACK module 148 in a local cache of ACK messages within theHAD 102). Only if an incoming message has a Message-ID that does notalready appear in the Messages Tracking Cache Unit 149, does the HAD 102proceed to act on such message.

In the Controlling Device 101, the Message Constructor Module 115 isresponsible for handling the ACK responses, for de-duplicating messages,and for monitoring and handling timeouts. For example, the MessageConstructor Module 115 forwards the first successful ACK response to aMessages Tracker 116 within the Controlling Device 111 and/or to theRequestor Module 113 and/or to the Interactor Module 112; therebyupdating these modules that the particular message having thatMessage-ID was confirmed as received at the HAD 102. Subsequent ACKresponses, which are received from the HAD 102 and which have the sameMessage-ID (e.g., which already appears in the Messages Tracker 116within the Controlling Device 111), may be ignored or discarded. TheCommunication Coordinator Module 114 may further utilize a TimeoutMonitoring Module 117, to check whether a pre-defined timeout period(e.g., 2 or 3 or 5 of 7 or 8 seconds, or N seconds) has elapsed since aparticular message was firstly sent out by the Controlling Device 101and an ACK response was not received for its Message-ID; and in suchcase of lack of ACK within the pre-defined timeout period, theCommunication Coordinator Module 114 sends an error notification or aNegative ACK (NACK) message to the Requestor Module 113 and/or to theInteractor Module 112.

The above-described system may achieve some or all of thepreviously-described goals; and may further be augmented or improved inorder to provide robustness to packet loss, by implementing a particularretry / re-transmission mechanism. For example, a different pre-definedretry / re-transmission mechanism or scheme may be associated (andutilized) with each one of the communication channels or transports thatare used by the Communication Coordinator Module 114. In a demonstrativeembodiment, for example, a particular message is transmitted from theControlling Device 101 to the HAD 102 via an MQTT channel; if theControlling Device 101 does not receive an ACK response for theMessage-ID of that message via MQTT within N1 seconds (e.g., within 2seconds), then: the Communication Coordinator Module 114 re-transmitsthe same message (and with the same Message-ID in it) again over MQTT;then: if the Controlling Device 101 still does not receive an ACKresponse for the Message-ID of that message via MQTT within N2 seconds(e.g., within an additional period of 2 seconds), then: theCommunication Coordinator Module 114 re-transmits the same message (andwith the same Message-ID in it) yet again for the third time over MQTT;then: if the Controlling Device 101 still does not receive an ACKresponse for the Message-ID of that message via MQTT within N3 seconds(e.g., within an additional period of 3 seconds), then: theCommunication Coordinator Module 114 re-transmits the same message (andwith the same Message-ID in it) again for the fourth and last time overMQTT. Meanwhile, concurrently with (or in parallel to) these fourtransmission events (one initial transmission and three periodicalre-transmissions) via MQTT, the Communication Coordinator Module 114also transmits (and re-transmits) the same message, having the sameMessage-ID, via HTTPS and/or via Bluetooth / BLE, while implementing apre-defined re-transmission scheme for each one of them. Eachre-transmission scheme may be tailored to the communication channel, andmay define the number of allowed or required re-transmissions, the timeintervals to wait between re-transmissions (which may be non-fixed timeintervals; or may be random or pseudo-random within a pre-defined range,such as, a pseudo-random waiting period in the range of 1.5 to 2.5seconds). All such transmissions and/or re-transmissions are ceasedimmediately upon: (i) receiving the first ACK response from the HAD 102regarding this Message-ID, or (ii) elapsing of a pre-defined globaltimeout (e.g., 7 or 9 seconds) that the Communication Coordinator Module114 utilizes for all such concurrent retries or re-transmissions sincethe first transmission of the message having that Message-ID; accordingto the sooner out of these two options.

Some implementations of the system may lead to a slightly increasedoperational cost in certain situations; for example, if the operator ofthe HAD pays per MQTT transmission, and the user and his ControllingDevice 101 are both located at home in direct proximity (e.g., threefeet away) from the HAD 102 which can be accessed via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth/ BLE without requiring MQTT messaging. However, such implementationsmay be adjusted to reduce such costs, while still maintaining ahigh-quality / low-latency user experience. For example, someimplementations may be a hybrid system that combines both theabove-mentioned functionality of the Communication Coordinator Module114 together with the prioritized fallback (or failover) approachdescribed above; such that, the Communication Coordinator Module 114monitors and tracks of the latency and the failure rate of the severalprevious (e.g., most recent) HTTP requests and/or BLE requests; if theobserved latency and failure rate are below a pre-defined threshold,then the Communication Coordinator Module 114 would (for example) skipthe first MQTT transmission for each outgoing message from theControlling Device 101 to the HAD 102, but would still send the firstand second re-transmissions via MQTT as well (in addition to HTTPSand/or Bluetooth / BLE re-transmission, in parallel). This way, when theuser is at home and is experiencing acceptable latency over HTTPS and/orBluetooth / BLE, virtually no MQTT traffic is ever transmitted or used.However, immediately when even one message, which was sent via HTTPS andBluetooth / BLE, does not receive back its ACK from the HAD 102 withinN1 seconds (e.g., within 2 seconds), the Communication CoordinatorModule 114 initiates further re-transmissions for that message (andoptionally, for all messages that are sent within the next M minutes)also via MQTT messaging. Such modified implementation limits the waitingtime during the failover to N1 seconds (e.g., to approximately 2 secondsin this example).

The HAD manufacturer or vendor or operator may weigh the user experiencedegradation due to this slight delay, against the cost savings due thelower volume of MQTT traffic and/or reduced number of MQTTtransmissions. In other embodiments, the manufacturer or vendor oroperator may enable the end-user of the Controlling Device 101 toconfigure or to select the level of service or the Quality of Service(QoS) or the Quality of Experience (QoE) that she is willing topurchase; for example, enabling the end-user to select a first option of“I wish to always get the highest available QoS even if it would cost memore money”, or to select a second option of “I wish to save on costs aslong as I do not need to wait more than 3 seconds for my Ceiling Fan torespond to my command”, or to select other suitable options that areassociated with various payment plans.

Alternatively, some implementations may activate and utilize MQTTcommunications for all the messages sent from the Controlling Device 101to the HAD 102; such as, to ensure the highest possible QoS or QoE, orfor debugging purposes or for customer support purposes. Furthermore,since no “keep alive’ messages are required by the system of the presentinvention, excessive costs are not incurred when the end-user is idleand is not commanding the HAD 102 via his Controlling Device 101;rather, some MQTT messaging costs may be incurred only when the end-useris actively commanding the HAD 102 via his Controlling Device 101, whichmay be sparse or non-frequent.

Some embodiments of the present invention may thus utilize simultaneousor concurrent use of multiple IoT / wireless communication protocols orchannels, as well as unique mechanism for caching of requests / commandsand for avoiding a recipient device from acting multiple times on thesame command that was transmitted over multiple communication channelsor paths. Some embodiments may deliver a high QoS or QoE for the HADsystem, even when the venue (e.g., residential home) is experiencingslow or spotty Internet service or even a complete outage of Internetservice. For example, concurrent utilization of HTTPS and Bluetooth /BLE channels, still enables the end-user to flawlessly and efficientlycontrol the HAD 102 from his Controlling Device 101. As the end-userwalks from the bedroom where her ceiling fan is located, to the otherend of her house, and then out to her backyard, the user’s ControllingDevice may seamlessly transition from utilizing Bluetooth / BLE, toutilizing HTTPS, and then to utilizing MQTT via her cellular network,for the purpose of delivering a command from the Controlling Device tothe HAD; all this in a user-transparent manner, and without the userbeing aware of the different communication protocols being used, andwithout the user suffering from latency or delays, and without thesystem dropping or losing or re-performing any of the user’s commands.

It is noted that the HAD may communicate with the Controlled Applianceusing one or more of the communication methods that were describedabove; and/or by other suitable communication methods, for example, bysending Infra-Red (IR) signals from the HAD to the Controlled Appliance,by sending Radio Frequency (RF) signals from the HAD to the ControlledAppliance, by means of a wired link or cable or wire connecting the HADto the Controlled Appliance, and/or via other suitable methods ofcommunication.

Some embodiments of the present invention may comprise suitablemechanisms for handling, detecting, reporting, notifying and/orprocessing errors or error signals or NACK signals, by the HAD and/or bythe Controlling Device and/or by the Controlled Appliance, and/or byother elements or components of the system. For example, thefirst-obtained positive or successful ACK signal, may be propagated ortransported immediately as an ACK message from the HAD to theControlling Device; such as, via the same transport protocol that wasused for transporting the particular message that is now acknowledged,and/or via a plurality of transport channels. However, transport of NACKsignals or NACK messages, or error signals or error messages, may beperformed via other mechanisms. For example, in some embodiments, one ormore types of error signals (e.g., authorization errors) are notnecessarily propagated or transported from the HAD to the ControllingDevice unless all of the available communication channels or transportchannels have reached their respective time-out threshold value. Thismay provide to the system robustness against mis-configuration of one(or more) of the communication channels or transport mechanisms.

Some embodiments, optionally, need not necessarily store or cache fullcopies of all messages in the cache or repository; but rather, mayoptionally discard or erase or delete or purge redundant messages ormessage-portions, as well as messages or message-portions that doprovide new insights to the system with regard to success or failure ofa transport of a particular message from the Controlling Device to theHAD (or vice versa). Some embodiments, for example, may only store orcache or track non-idempotent messages in the cache; whereas, incontrast, idempotent requests (e.g., GET requests), need not be cachedor deduplicated or tracked, because there is no change in state when theControlled Appliance acts on the command.

In some embodiments, the memory resources which may be utilized orrequired in order to implement the cache or the repository, may bereduced or minimized by one or more suitable techniques; for example, byimplementing or enforcing or utilizing a protocol in whichnon-idempotent requests Never contain a message body or a copy of theactual message payload, but rather, they only contain a status code or astatus indicator or other reduced-size representation which requires asmaller or reduced-size memory capacity in order to be cached or stored.In contrast, the idempotent Requests (e.g., GET requests or messages)may have large message-bodies or payload portions in their replies,which would thus require a greater volume of memory to cache or store.In some embodiment, a suitable controller or component or module mayautomatically purge or reduce the size of the cache or repository; forexample, by analyzing already-cached message(s) and/or a message that isintended to be cached, and by converting one or more messages (e.g.,previously-cached, or intended-to-be cached) from a first format (e.g.,full message payload) to a reduced-size format (e.g., discarding orreplacing at least a portion of the message payload with a reduced-sizerepresentation or indicator or place-holder); in order to reduce thememory foot-print or the memory utilization of the caching and/ortracking mechanism.

In some embodiments, a method comprises: (a) constructing in anelectronic device of a user, a control message indicating a user commandintended to be performed by a Home Automation Device (HAD) of said user;wherein the constructing comprises: inserting into the control message aunique Message-Identifier; (b) transmitting said control message, fromsaid electronic device of the user, to said HAD of the user,concurrently via at least two different wireless communications channelswhich comprise at least: (i) a first wireless communication channel thatincludes passage of traffic through the Internet, and (ii) a secondwireless communication channel in which no traffic passes through theInternet.

In some embodiments, said unique Message-Identifier, which is comprisedin said control message, enables said HAD to determine whether or notsaid control message is a duplicate re-transmission of said controlmessage.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: checking whether anacknowledgement message is received back at said electronic device fromsaid HAD within N seconds of said transmitting of the message, wherein Nis a positive number; if the checking result is negative, then: (I)performing re-transmission of said control message towards said HADusing a first re-transmission scheme via said first wirelesscommunication channel, and also, concurrently, (II) performingre-transmission of said control message towards said HAD using a second,different, re-transmission scheme via said second wireless communicationchannel.

In some embodiments, the first re-transmission scheme, which is used forthe first wireless communication channel, defines a first number ofre-transmissions to be attempted and defines a first timeout period forre-transmissions; wherein the second re-transmission scheme, which isused for the second wireless communication channel, defines a second,different, number of re-transmissions to be attempted and defines asecond, different, timeout period for re-transmissions;

In some embodiments, step (b) comprises: transmitting from saidelectronic device to said HAD in a Bluetooth transmission, a first copyof said control message having therein said unique Message-Identifier;transmitting from said electronic device to said HAD in an HTTPStransmission, a second copy of said control message having therein saidunique Message-Identifier; transmitting from said electronic device tosaid HAD via an MQTT transmission, a third copy of said control messagehaving therein said unique Message-Identifier; wherein said controlmessage comprises said same unique Message-Identifier in each one of:the Bluetooth transmission, the HTTPS transmission, and the MQTTtransmission.

In some embodiments, the MQTT transmission is performed in a time-slotthat is at least partially overlapping with a time slot of at least oneof: the Bluetooth transmission, the HTTPS transmission.

In some embodiments, step (b) comprises: transmitting from saidelectronic device to said HAD, the control message having therein saidunique Message-Identifier, concurrently via a Bluetooth communicationchannel and via an HTTPS communication channel and via an MQTTcommunication channel.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting an Infra-Red signal from the HAD to a controlled appliance,wherein the IR signal indicates to the controlled appliance to modify anoperational property of said controlled appliance.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a Radio Frequency signal from the HAD to a controlledappliance, wherein the RF signal indicates to the controlled applianceto modify an operational property of said controlled appliance.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a wireless signal from the HAD to a controlled appliance,wherein the wireless signal indicates to the controlled appliance tomodify an operational property of said controlled appliance; wherein thewireless signal that transports said wireless signal from the HAD to thecontrolled appliance, is transported in accordance with a wirelesscommunication protocol that is different from a wireless communicationprotocol utilized for transporting the control message from theelectronic device to the HAD.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting an Infra-Red signal from the HAD to a ceiling fan, whereinthe IR signal indicates to the ceiling fan to modify an operationalproperty of said ceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a Radio Frequency signal from the HAD to a ceiling fan,wherein the RF signal indicates to the ceiling fan to modify anoperational property of said ceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a wireless signal from the HAD to a ceiling fan, whereinthe wireless signal indicates to the ceiling fan to modify anoperational property of said ceiling fan; wherein the wireless signalthat transports said wireless signal from the HAD to the ceiling fan, istransported in accordance with a wireless communication protocol that isdifferent from a wireless communication protocol utilized fortransporting the control message from the electronic device to the HAD.

In some embodiments, the HAD is integrally built-in within a ceilingfan; wherein step (b) comprises: transmitting said control message, fromsaid electronic device of the user, to said HAD that is integrallybuilt-in within said ceiling fan, concurrently via at least said twodifferent wireless communications channels.

In some embodiments, said control message comprises at least a commandto modify an operational property of a ceiling fan that is implementedas a separate unit from said HAD.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a Radio Frequency (RF) signal from the HAD to a MotorizedWindow Shades unit, wherein the RF signal indicates to the MotorizedWindow Shades unit to modify an operational property of said MotorizedWindow Shades unit; wherein said control message comprises at least acommand to modify an operational property of said Motorized WindowShades unit that is implemented as a separate unit from said HAD.Optionally, an Infra-Red signal may be used, or other wireless signalsmay be used.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: based on the control messagereceived at the HAD from said electronic device, generating andtransmitting a Radio Frequency (RF) signal from the HAD to a Fireplaceunit, wherein the RF signal indicates to the Motorized Window Shadesunit to modify an operational property of said Fireplace unit; whereinsaid control message comprises at least a command to modify anoperational property of said Fireplace unit that is implemented as aseparate unit from said HAD. Optionally, an Infra-Red signal may beused, or other wireless signals may be used.

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a home automation device(HAD) which comprises: a hardware processor to execute code; a Bluetoothtransceiver configured to receive data directly from an electronicdevice of a user via a direct Bluetooth communication link establishedbetween the home automation device and the electronic device; a Wi-Fitransceiver, configured (i) to receive HTTPS data from said electronicdevice over a local Wi-Fi connection that does not pass through theInternet, and (ii) to receive MQTT messages from said electronic deviceover an Internet connection and through a remote server; a messageduplication detector unit, (a) to detect that said home automationdevice received wirelessly two incoming messages having a same uniqueMessage-Identifier via two different communication channels, and (b) toperform only one time, and not twice, a home automation commandindicated in both of the two incoming messages.

In some embodiments, the message duplication detector unit is to detectduplicate incoming messages by checking whether a local cache ofreceived messages already contains a particular Message-Identifiervalue.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: an acknowledgment module,(i) to respond with a first ACK message to first incoming message thathas a particular Message-Identifier and that is acted upon, and (ii) toalso respond with a second ACK message to a second incoming message thathas the same particular Message-Identifier and that is not acted upon.

In some embodiments, the first ACK message is transmitted from the homeautomation device to the electronic device via a particularcommunication route and a particular communication channel thatdelivered the first incoming message from the electronic device to thehome automation device; wherein the second ACK message is transmittedfrom the home automation device to the electronic device via anothercommunication route and another communication channel that delivered thesecond incoming message from the electronic device to the homeautomation device.

In some embodiments, each one of the two incoming messages comprises anindication of a user command to change an operational property of anappliance that is controlled remotely via said home automation device.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, calculations,operations and/or determinations may be performed locally within asingle device, or may be performed by or across multiple devices, or maybe performed partially locally and partially remotely (e.g., at a remoteserver) by optionally utilizing a communication channel to exchange rawdata and/or processed data and/or processing results.

Although portions of the discussion herein relate, for demonstrativepurposes, to wired links and/or wired communications, some embodimentsare not limited in this regard, but rather, may utilize wiredcommunication and/or wireless communication; may include one or morewired and/or wireless links; may utilize one or more components of wiredcommunication and/or wireless communication; and/or may utilize one ormore methods or protocols or standards of wireless communication.

Some embodiments may be implemented by using a special-purpose machineor a specific-purpose device that is not a generic computer, or by usinga non-generic computer or a non-general computer or machine. Such systemor device may utilize or may comprise one or more components or units ormodules that are not part of a “generic computer” and that are not partof a “general purpose computer”, for example, cellular transceivers,cellular transmitter, cellular receiver, GPS unit, location-determiningunit, accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), device-orientation detectors orsensors, device-positioning detectors or sensors, or the like.

Some embodiments may be implemented as, or by utilizing, an automatedmethod or automated process, or a machine-implemented method or process,or as a semi-automated or partially-automated method or process, or as aset of steps or operations which may be executed or performed by acomputer or machine or system or other device.

Some embodiments may be implemented by using code or program code ormachine-readable instructions or machine-readable code, which may bestored on a non-transitory storage medium or non-transitory storagearticle (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a physical memory unit, a physicalstorage unit), such that the program or code or instructions, whenexecuted by a processor or a machine or a computer, cause such processoror machine or computer to perform a method or process as describedherein. Such code or instructions may be or may comprise, for example,one or more of: software, a software module, an application, a program,a subroutine, instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words,values, symbols, strings, variables, source code, compiled code,interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code; including(but not limited to) code or instructions in high-level programminglanguage, low-level programming language, object-oriented programminglanguage, visual programming language, compiled programming language,interpreted programming language, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, SQL,Ruby on Rails, Go, Cobol, Fortran, ActionScript, AJAX, XML, JSON, Lisp,Eiffel, Verilog, Hardware Description Language (HDL, BASIC, VisualBASIC, Matlab, Pascal, HTML, HTML5, CSS, Perl, Python, PHP, machinelanguage, machine code, assembly language, or the like.

Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing”,“computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, “detecting”, “measuring”, or the like, may refer tooperation(s) and/or process(es) of a processor, a computer, a computingplatform, a computing system, or other electronic device or computingdevice, that may automatically and/or autonomously manipulate and/ortransform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantitieswithin registers and/or accumulators and/or memory units and/or storageunits into other data or that may perform other suitable operations.

The terms “plurality” and “a plurality”, as used herein, include, forexample, “multiple” or “two or more”. For example, “a plurality ofitems” includes two or more items.

References to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “demonstrativeembodiment”, “various embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and/or similarterms, may indicate that the embodiment(s) so described may optionallyinclude a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but notevery embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure,or characteristic. Furthermore, repeated use of the phrase “in oneembodiment” does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, althoughit may. Similarly, repeated use of the phrase “in some embodiments” doesnot necessarily refer to the same set or group of embodiments, althoughit may.

As used herein, and unless otherwise specified, the utilization ofordinal adjectives such as “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, and soforth, to describe an item or an object, merely indicates that differentinstances of such like items or objects are being referred to; and doesnot intend to imply as if the items or objects so described must be in aparticular given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, orin any other ordering manner.

Some embodiments may be used in, or in conjunction with, various devicesand systems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer,a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, atablet, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, avehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, aconsumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, an appliance, awireless communication station, a wireless communication device, awireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router or gateway orswitch or hub, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audiodevice, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, awireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN), a LocalArea Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Personal Area Network(PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, aPersonal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA or handheld devicewhich incorporates wireless communication capabilities, a mobile orportable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a device whichincorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device whichincorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO)transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiveror device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or externalantennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems,multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handhelddevice, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)device, or the like.

Some embodiments may comprise, or may be implemented by using, an “app”or application which may be downloaded or obtained from an “app store”or “applications store”, for free or for a fee, or which may bepre-installed on a computing device or electronic device, or which maybe otherwise transported to and/or installed on such computing device orelectronic device.

Functions, operations, components and/or features described herein withreference to one or more embodiments of the present invention, may becombined with, or may be utilized in combination with, one or more otherfunctions, operations, components and/or features described herein withreference to one or more other embodiments of the present invention. Thepresent invention may thus comprise any possible or suitablecombinations, re-arrangements, assembly, re-assembly, or otherutilization of some or all of the modules or functions or componentsthat are described herein, even if they are discussed in differentlocations or different chapters of the above discussion, or even if theyare shown across different drawings or multiple drawings.

While certain features of some demonstrative embodiments of the presentinvention have been illustrated and described herein, variousmodifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents may occur tothose skilled in the art. Accordingly, the claims are intended to coverall such modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: (a) a message constructorunit, configured to construct a Motorized Electric Shades controlmessage indicating a user command intended to be performed by aMotorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein construction of said MotorizedElectric Shades control message comprises insertion of aMessage-Identifier into said Motorized Electric Shades control message;(b) one or more transmitters, configured to transmit (i) a first copy ofsaid Motorized Electric Shades control message via an HTTPS transmissionin which traffic passes through the Internet, and also (ii) a secondcopy of said Motorized Electric Shades control message via a localBluetooth communication link in which traffic does not pass through theInternet; wherein the first copy of said Motorized Electric Shadescontrol message which is transmitted via HTTPS, and the second copy ofsaid Motorized Electric Shades control message which is transmitted viathe local Bluetooth communication link, have same saidMessage-Identifier; wherein Bluetooth transmission of the second copy ofthe Motorized Electric Shades control message is performed in atime-slot that is at least partially overlapping with a time slot ofHTTPS transmission of the first copy of the Motorized Electric Shadescontrol message.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or moretransmitters are part of a portable electronic device operated by saiduser, configured to communicate directly with said Motorized ElectricShades Unit.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or moretransmitters are part of a portable electronic device operated by saiduser, configured to communicate indirectly with said Motorized ElectricShades Unit via a Home Automation Device (HAD).
 4. The system of claim1, wherein said one or more transmitters are part of a Home AutomationDevice (HAD), configured to communicate with said Motorized ElectricShades Unit.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein said first copy istransmitted from a portable electronic device operated by said user, tosaid Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said second copy istransmitted from said portable electronic device operated by said user,to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit;.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein said first copy is transmitted from a Home Automation Device(HAD) to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said second copyis transmitted from said Home Automation Device (HAD) to said MotorizedElectric Shades Unit.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein said first copyis transmitted from a portable electronic device operated by said user,to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said second copy istransmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to said MotorizedElectric Shades Unit.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein said first copyis transmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to said MotorizedElectric Shades Unit; wherein said second copy is transmitted from aportable electronic device operated by said user, to said MotorizedElectric Shades Unit.
 9. A system comprising: (a) a message constructorunit, configured to construct a Motorized Electric Shades controlmessage indicating a user command intended to be performed by aMotorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein construction of said MotorizedElectric Shades control message comprises insertion of aMessage-Identifier into said Motorized Electric Shades control message;(b) one or more transmitters, configured to transmit (i) a first copy ofsaid Motorized Electric Shades control message via an HTTPS transmissionin which traffic passes through the Internet, and also (ii) a secondcopy of said Motorized Electric Shades control message via a MessageQueuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) communication link; wherein the firstcopy of said Motorized Electric Shades control message which istransmitted via HTTPS, and the second copy of said Motorized ElectricShades control message which is transmitted via the MQTT communicationlink, have same said Message-Identifier; wherein MQTT transmission ofthe second copy of the Motorized Electric Shades control message isperformed in a time-slot that is at least partially overlapping with atime slot of HTTPS transmission of the first copy of the MotorizedElectric Shades control message.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein saidone or more transmitters are part of a portable electronic deviceoperated by said user, configured to communicate directly with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein saidone or more transmitters are part of a portable electronic deviceoperated by said user, configured to communicate indirectly with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit via a Home Automation Device (HAD). 12.The system of claim 9, wherein said one or more transmitters are part ofa Home Automation Device (HAD), configured to communicate with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from said portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit;.
 14. The system ofclaim 9, wherein said first copy is transmitted from a Home AutomationDevice (HAD) to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from said Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 15. The system of claim 9, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 16. The system of claim 9, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said second copy is transmittedfrom a portable electronic device operated by said user, to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 17. A system comprising: (a) a messageconstructor unit, configured to construct a Motorized Electric Shadescontrol message indicating a user command intended to be performed by aMotorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein construction of said MotorizedElectric Shades control message comprises insertion of aMessage-Identifier into said Motorized Electric Shades control message;(b) one or more transmitters, configured to transmit (i) a first copy ofsaid Motorized Electric Shades control message via a local Bluetoothcommunication link in which traffic does not pass through the Internet,and also (ii) a second copy of said Motorized Electric Shades controlmessage via a via a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT)communication link; wherein the first copy of said Motorized ElectricShades control message which is transmitted via the local Bluetoothcommunication link, and the second copy of said Motorized ElectricShades control message which is transmitted via the MQTT communicationlink, have same said Message-Identifier; wherein MQTT transmission ofthe second copy of the Motorized Electric Shades control message isperformed in a time-slot that is at least partially overlapping with atime slot of Bluetooth transmission of the first copy of the MotorizedElectric Shades control message.
 18. The system of claim 17, whereinsaid one or more transmitters are part of a portable electronic deviceoperated by said user, configured to communicate directly with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein saidone or more transmitters are part of a portable electronic deviceoperated by said user, configured to communicate indirectly with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit via a Home Automation Device (HAD). 20.The system of claim 17, wherein said one or more transmitters are partof a Home Automation Device (HAD), configured to communicate with saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 21. The system of claim 17, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from said portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit;.
 22. The system ofclaim 17, wherein said first copy is transmitted from a Home AutomationDevice (HAD) to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from said Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 23. The system of claim 17, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a portable electronic device operated bysaid user, to said Motorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said secondcopy is transmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.
 24. The system of claim 17, wherein saidfirst copy is transmitted from a Home Automation Device (HAD) to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit; wherein said second copy is transmittedfrom a portable electronic device operated by said user, to saidMotorized Electric Shades Unit.